Recreation

Key messages

Scotland's natural environment provides a fantastic backdrop for a wide range of outdoor recreation activities, ranging from dog walking and visiting parks to mountain biking, hillwalking, horse riding and water sports. 

Benefits of visiting the outdoors

There are many benefits that can be gained from visiting the outdoors. These include:

• Improving our health and well-being: Walking is recognised as the most cost-effective means of improving physical health. Enjoying the outdoors and participating in challenging activities can also contribute to good mental health and well-being.
  
  
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  © Lomond and Trossachs National Park

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• Increasing our understanding and care of the natural world: Participation in outdoor recreation and activities, such as volunteering, provides opportunities for people to learn more about the natural world and to care for a resource that is valuable to the whole community. Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, Cairngorms National Park, Forestry and Land Scotland and NatureScot are some of the environmental organisations which offer a range of volunteering opportunities. Volunteer Scotland  and Make Your Mark, an inclusive volunteering campaign, can help you find outdoor volunteering opportunities in your area. 
• Taking part in citizen science is a useful way of helping the environment and expanding our scientific knowledge. By getting involved you can really make a difference.

YouTube: National Park Volunteers - we thank you!

• Increasing our understanding of our cultural heritage: Visits to the outdoors can help provide a sense of place and cultural identity, ensuring we can confidently pass these assets to the next generation.
• Make Your Mark is an inclusive volunteering campaign that can help you find outdoor volunteering opportunities in your area.

Exploring the Heart of Neolithic Orkney © Crown Copyright Historic Environment Scotland

• It contributes to our economy: In 2012, outdoor recreation visits generated around £2.6 billion of expenditure.

  NatureScot conduct regular research measuring participation in outdoor recreation.

  Visit Scotland have a range of research resources on outdoor recreation sectors, including:

  • Outdoor activities, including cycling, fishing, country sports, snow sports
  • mountain biking
  • Horse riding
  • culture and heritage
  • nature-based tourism
  • Coastal tourism.

   

• It promotes social inclusion - Outdoor Accessibility Guidance - Paths for All with links to public transport and active travel routes offer health and wellbeing benefits for everyone.

Settings for outdoor recreation in Scotland

• Urban green spaces - Well-designed and managed green spaces make settlements more pleasant places to live, provide space for wildlife and can encourage healthy, active lifestyles by giving people an opportunity to enjoy the outdoors close to home. Improvements in the provision and promotion of paths (especially paths close to home), is likely to play a key role in increasing recreation in urban areas in the future.
• National Parks - Scotland’s two National Parks, the Cairngorms (established in 2003) and Loch Lomond and The Trossachs (established in 2002) offer visitors and local communities a wide variety of opportunities to enjoy our natural and cultural heritage. These include visits for sightseeing, walking, cycling, mountain biking, camping, kayaking, horse riding and visits to historic and cultural properties and sites.

   

  
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  Canoeing on Loch Morlich, Glenmore, Cairngorm National Park. © Lorne Gill - Scottish Natural Heritage

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• National forest estate and other public land - The National Forest Estate in Scotland is the largest single public land resource held by the Scottish Government, It comprises over 650,000 hectares and more than 9% of Scotland’s landmass and has a network of waymarked paths.
• National Nature reserves (NNRs) - Scotland’s National Nature Reserves cover less than 1.5% of Scotland, and contain some of the very best of the country’s nature and wildlife, including habitats and species of national and international significance.

   

  
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  Loch Leven

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• Regional parks - Three regional parks offer many ways to enjoy the outdoors within easy reach of Scotland's central belt.
• Country parks - Scotland has 40 country parks conveniently near to cities and towns.
• Local Nature Reserves - There are 75 local nature reserves in Scotland. They are as easy to access as parks and other green spaces but with a more natural environment. 
• Geoparks - In a geopark you can discover how Scotland's icy past shaped the landscape we see today.

Data

Scotland performs - National indicator

The Scottish Government National Indicator Performance shows progress against all the Scottish Government’s National Indicators, including ‘Visits to the outdoors’ and ‘Access to green and blue space’.

 Visits to the Outdoors 2016 - 2019 and 2022

Source: Scottish Recreation Survey (ScRS), Scottish Household Survey (SHS)

Greenspaces for leisure and recreation

You can use this free interactive digital map to find accessible recreational and leisure greenspace anywhere in Britain – parks, public gardens, playing fields, sports areas, play spaces, allotments and community gardens.

© Copyright Ordnance Survey 2020

Core Paths Scotland

Around 21,000km of existing paths have been recorded as core paths across Scotland, these vary from tracks, paths, roadside footways to sections of minor road.

Access Core Paths data on the local path network.

National Cycle Network - Scotland

OS data © Crown Copyright and database right 2018 

There are approximately 2,371 miles (3,815km) of National Cycle Network routes in Scotland, including 644 miles of traffic-free routes which use a mix of railway path, canal towpath, forest road, shared-use path, segregated cycle lanes and re-determined rural footways. 41% of the Scottish population now lives within a third of a mile of a National Cycle Network route.

Find your route on the Sustrans National Cycle Network

Scotland's Great Trails

29 different routes provide over 1,900 miles of well managed paths from the Borders to the Highlands.

What are we doing?

Access rights and responsibilities

• The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 establishes a right of responsible access to most land and inland water in Scotland. The rights and responsibilities of outdoor visitors and land managers are explained in the Scottish Outdoor Access Code.

Providing and protecting recreation space

• Scottish planning policy encourages local authorities to prepare open space strategies to guide future provision within their areas, in particular through the planning system.
• Scottish Government’s National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) includes the National Walking, Cycling and Wheeling Network as a national development to support sustainable travel.
• The Central Scotland Green Network is being developed to enhance landscapes, wildlife and recreational opportunities in central Scotland.
• Every access authority in Scotland has a core paths plan.
• Future development of mountain biking in Scotland is being guided by the National Strategic Framework for the sustainable development of mountain biking in Scotland.
• A programme of Green Infrastructure projects will deliver improvements to the quality, accessibility and quantity of green infrastructure in Scotland’s towns and cities.
• The Natural and Cultural Heritage Fund supports opportunities to conserve, protect and support the nature and culture of the Highlands and Islands.
• The Scottish Historic Environment Policy sets out Scottish ministers’ policies on issues including access to historic sites and the important recreational opportunities afforded through volunteering.
• The Better Places Fund supports implementation of Scotland's visitor management strategy, providing funding for seasonal rangers and visitor operations staff to help manage visitor numbers, pressures, and behaviours in hotspot areas.
• The national walking strategy - Let's get Scotland Walking aims to ensure that everyone can benefit from everyday walking. The cycling framework for active travel provides a plan for everyday cycling.
• NatureScot advice on new National Park

Developing good practice and managing recreation sustainably

• Recreation can inadvertently damage the environment, and in very popular destinations visitor management may be needed to protect it. Scotland's visitor management plan sets out to educate key audiences on how to enjoy our countryside responsibly. Guidance on managing public access in areas of wildlife sensitivity provides a framework for site managers o balancing public access with safeguarding sensitive wildlife.
• The Scottish Outdoor Access Code provides information on everyone’s access rights and responsibilities in Scotland’s outdoors. Access rights in Scotland apply to most land and inland water. A series of good-practice guides offers guidance on responsible behaviour for activities such as camping. Managing camping with tents in Scotland is produced by the National Access Forum.

YouTube: Responsible camping in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park

YouTube: Camp fires and cooking in the Cairngorms National Park

• Scottish Marine Wildlife Watching Code raises awareness of the need for responsible behaviour and offers practical guidance for visitors and commercial operators.
• There is good practice guidance available on paths, gates and other access infrastructure; managing upland paths; and Paths for All can provide technical advice on path projects.
• The Heading for the Scottish Hills project helps walkers plan routes that are unlikely to disturb deer-stalking.
• Byelaws, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park utilise visitor management byelaws to encourage responsible loch shore camping in busy areas and to minimise disturbance and environmental damage associated with boat usage on Loch Lomond.

Improving access to the countryside

• The Experience Company's Phototrails website allows users to look at a series of photos of countryside routes and read descriptions of path features, enabling visitors with disabilities to forward plan their visits. Other information on disabled access is available in Euan's Guide.
• The Outdoor Accessibility Guidance provides advice on making outdoor places, routes and facilities more accessible and outdoor experiences more inclusive.
• The path grading system for Scotland helps path managers to simply, consistently and accurately describe paths to walkers, cyclists and riders, assisting path users to select a route that suits their needs.
• Health walks are a supportive and sociable way for people to enjoy the benefits of being physically active outdoors.